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Regulated immigration advisers in law and in Parliament

What the statute book and the parliamentary record say about regulated immigration advisers — searched by 3 phrases, counted, and published with what each phrase catches by mistake.

Regulator
IAA
Statutory basis
Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 part V
Register
The profession on this site

The oldest hit is the least trustworthy figure here. Two things make it so, and both are visible in this collection.

The oldest documents are the likeliest to use the word in another sense. The oldest hit for “solicitor” is the Taxation Act 1640, and its only occurrence of the word is “Solicitor Generall to the Kings most excellent Majestie”.

And a hit is not always enacted text. legislation.gov.uk’s revised texts carry its own editorial annotations — notes recording that a provision was amended or applied by something later — and the index reads them. The oldest hit for “notary” is the Ecclesiastical Licences Act 1533, whose only occurrence of the word is the note “S. 11 applied by Public Notaries Act 1843 (c. 90), s. 5”. The 1533 text does not contain it.

When the law mentioned them

1960s 69 in the busiest decade 2020s

Documents per decade, by the year the document itself carries. This is the revised statute book: an Act repealed long ago is generally not on legislation.gov.uk at all, so the early decades are thinner than the history was.

When Parliament mentioned them

1800s “immigration adviser” — 9 in the busiest decade 2020s

Spoken and written contributions containing the phrase, by decade. Hansard’s digitised record begins with the 1803 session, so a decade before that is absent rather than quiet. Collected for the profession’s own name only; the other phrases below have totals but no series.

What was searched for, and what it catches

PhraseWhat it is LegislationHansard Debates
“immigration adviser” The profession 5 25 0
“immigration advice” The profession 42 155 4
“Immigration Services Commissioner” Its regulator 160 77 0

What these phrases catch that is not this profession.

  • “immigration advice” — The regulated activity rather than the person: s.82 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 regulates the giving of advice, not a protected title.
  • “Immigration Services Commissioner” — The statutory office. The Immigration Advice Authority is its current operating name and appears nowhere in legislation under that name.

Nothing is filtered out on the strength of these. A sweep that dropped what it judged irrelevant could not be checked, and the size of the wrong-sense class is itself worth knowing.

Legislation named after them

14 documents whose title contains one of these phrases — the law that is about this profession rather than merely mentioning it.

The Acts

44 Acts of a Parliament or Assembly mention this profession, against 138 statutory instruments and other secondary material.

YearActMatched
2026 Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2026 immigration advice, Immigration Services Commissioner
2026 Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2026 immigration advice, Immigration Services Commissioner
2025 Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 immigration advice, Immigration Services Commissioner
2025 Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2025 Immigration Services Commissioner
2025 Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2025 immigration advice, Immigration Services Commissioner
2024 Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2024 Immigration Services Commissioner
2024 Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2024 Immigration Services Commissioner
2023 Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2023 Immigration Services Commissioner
2023 Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2023 Immigration Services Commissioner
2022 Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2022 Immigration Services Commissioner
2022 Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2022 Immigration Services Commissioner
2021 Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2021 Immigration Services Commissioner
2021 Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2021 Immigration Services Commissioner
2020 Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2020 Immigration Services Commissioner
2020 Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2020 Immigration Services Commissioner
2019 Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2019 Immigration Services Commissioner
2019 Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2019 Immigration Services Commissioner
2018 Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2018 Immigration Services Commissioner
2018 Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2018 Immigration Services Commissioner
2017 Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2017 Immigration Services Commissioner
2017 Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2017 Immigration Services Commissioner
2016 Legal Complaints and Regulation Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 Northern Ireland Immigration Services Commissioner
2016 Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2016 Immigration Services Commissioner
2016 Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2016 Immigration Services Commissioner
2015 Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2015 Immigration Services Commissioner
2015 Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2015 Immigration Services Commissioner
2014 Immigration Act 2014 immigration advice, Immigration Services Commissioner
2014 Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2014 Immigration Services Commissioner
2014 Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2014 Immigration Services Commissioner
2013 Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2013 Immigration Services Commissioner
2013 Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2013 Immigration Services Commissioner
2012 Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2012 Immigration Services Commissioner
2012 Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2012 Immigration Services Commissioner
2011 Supply and Appropriation (Main Estimates) Act 2011 Immigration Services Commissioner
2010 Equality Act 2010 Immigration Services Commissioner
2007 Legal Services Act 2007 immigration advice, Immigration Services Commissioner
2004 Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc. ) Act 2004 immigration advice, Immigration Services Commissioner
2002 Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 immigration advice, Immigration Services Commissioner
2000 Freedom of Information Act 2000 Immigration Services Commissioner
1999 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 immigration advice, Immigration Services Commissioner
1975 House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 Immigration Services Commissioner
1975 Northern Ireland Assembly Disqualification Act 1975 Immigration Services Commissioner
1972 Superannuation Act 1972 Immigration Services Commissioner
1967 Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 Immigration Services Commissioner

The instruments

The 120 most recent of 138 statutory instruments and other secondary documents.

Which statute book

LegislatureDocuments
United Kingdom176
Northern Ireland4
Scotland2

These professions are regulated in England and Wales, but the search is not restricted to it: a Scottish instrument mentioning solicitors is about Scottish solicitors, who are a different profession, and dropping it silently would have been a judgement the reader could not check.

In Parliament

257 contributions, 4 debates and 143 written answers mention one of these phrases. Summed across phrases, so a speech naming both the profession and its regulator is counted twice.

Debates on “immigration advice”

4 debates whose title or text carries the phrase.

What was said, on “immigration adviser”

24 of 25 contributions, newest first. A sample, not the record.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Poole (Neil Duncan-Jordan) for securing this very important debate and thank those who have spoken from the Back Benches, including my hon. Friends the Members

Seema Malhotra, Certificate of Common Sponsorship , 22 January 2025 (Commons)

I appreciate the point the hon. Lady makes, and I am glad that she has had such a positive experience of Operation Nexus, but I believe that is an exception to the rule. I think, if we spoke to other hon. Members in this House, they would not have the sa

Alex Davies-Jones, Domestic Abuse Bill (Eleventh sitting) , 17 June 2020 (Commons)

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hollobone. I very much support the arguments that my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich West (Mr Bailey) made. I share his worry about our falling market share with respect to the overseas stude

Sir Stephen Timms, International Education Strategy , 22 May 2019 (Commons)

My Lords, this debate has made very clear the commitment across the House to improving the support received by trafficked children. My noble friend Lord McColl has made a very powerful case once again. We recognise that not enough has been done and that w

Baroness Northover, Children and Families Bill , 9 December 2013 (Lords)

My Lords, in moving Amendment 62 I shall speak also to Amendments 63 to 67, 69A and 70A. I am delighted to follow the noble and learned Baroness and the previous debate. This is an added dimension, which also relates to a very small number of very vulnera

Baroness Gould of Potternewton, Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill , 18 January 2012 (Lords)

The hon. Gentleman is making an important point. Let us consider the parallel of immigration law. If individuals do not have access to a lawyer to deal with an immigration case they go to an immigration adviser, who might end up, over a period, getting a

Jeremy Corbyn, Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill , 2 November 2011 (Commons)

The UK Border Agency has recognised the particular difficulties experienced by people in this position, and the Government helpfully identify four factors relevant to why legal aid should be provided in those cases. They include such things as the risk th

Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill , 31 October 2011 (Commons)

It is a particular privilege to speak at the Dispatch Box on this important issue, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell) for securing the debate. He has a long history of support not only for the proud and loyal Turks and Ca

Sir James Duddridge, Turks and Caicos Islands , 3 December 2010 (Commons)

The purpose of this order is to maintain the crucial balance between the need to rehabilitate reformed ex-offenders into employment and the need to ensure that the public, particularly vulnerable groups, are adequately protected from those who pose a ser

Lord Tunnicliffe, Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2009 , 29 June 2009 (Lords)

I endorse the final comments of the hon. Member for Glasgow, North-West (John Robertson). Like him, I would welcome an announcement on the seven and eight Type 45 destroyers. Both of our constituencies would benefit enormously from the shipbuilding capac

Mr Mike Hancock, Summer Adjournment , 26 July 2007 (Commons)

I suspect that this will be the last group of amendments we discuss this evening. I express my gratitude to Members of the Committee who have taken part and to the officials who have kept me well supplied with additional information and further points of

Lord Bassam of Brighton, UK Borders Bill , 23 July 2007 (Lords)

Thank you, Sir Nicholas. Like others who have spoken, I represent an inner-city constituency. I welcome the fact that we are debating legal aid, I welcome the Minister’s commitment to legal aid, and I welcome the principle of legal aid. We should be p

Jeremy Corbyn, Legal Aid , 11 January 2007 (Commons)

As Minister with responsibility for this matter, I am concerned about inefficiency, bad advice and possible illegal advice. That is why, in answering the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Burnley (Mr. Pike), I identified a number of crimin

Mr. Browne, Immigration Advisers , 12 July 2004 (Commons)

My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time. The Government have made substantial progress in the difficult area of asylum and immigration, including meeting the Prime Minister's target of halving the number of asylum claimants from

Lord Falconer of Thoroton, Asylum And Immigration (Treatment Of Claimants, Etc) Bill , 15 March 2004 (Lords)

I am glad that the tone of the debate has changed. In its first half hour or three quarters of an hour, I felt that we were listening simply to hysteria and to attacks on the Government's record. I say that as someone who has not always supported the Go

Mr. Neil Gerrard (Walthamstow), Asylum And Immigration , 2 February 2000 (Commons)

My Lords, I also ask a number of questions of the Government. It would be helpful if they could give us a full account of the reasons for deciding to establish a centre at Oakington. Perhaps they can tell us something about the arrangements which they h

Baroness Williams of Crosby, Immigration And Asylum Bill , 2 November 1999 (Lords)

My Lords, certainly I welcome that particular provision. A long time ago I put a question to the Minister about that matter. Unfortunately, to date there has not been a single prosecution brought against any such unscrupulous immigration adviser. I hope

Lord Dholakia, Immigration And Asylum Bill , 29 June 1999 (Lords)

Some people from some countries are of course genuine applicants but, none the less, cannot meet convention criteria. I can think of someone in my constituency whose fear was unquestionably genuine but whose claim did not meet convention criteria. As it

Mr. Straw, Support For Children , 16 June 1999 (Commons)

I welcome the Minister's commitment to dealing with the abuse that exists in this area of policy. Will he give the House an assurance that where a constituent has been given false, inaccurate or misleading advice by an immigration adviser and has then a

Mr. Vaz, Immigration Advisers , 7 July 1997 (Commons)

(9) The Council shall have powers of investigation where a breach of its rules by a licensed immigration adviser is suspected, and these powers shall include the power to intervene in a licensed immigration adviser's practice, to inspect the accounts of a

Registration Of Immigration Practitioners , 21 February 1996 (Commons)

(9) An individual shall not describe himself or hold himself out as a licensed immigration adviser unless he holds a licence in force under this section.

Registration Of Immigration Practitioners , 21 February 1996 (Commons)

I shall not repeat what other Members have said, but I should like to raise three new points that are important to the new clause. I fully associate myself with the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Blackburn (Mr. Straw). As he has been in the H

Mr. Vaz, Registration Of Immigration Practitioners , 21 February 1996 (Commons)

If the hon. Gentleman reflects, I am sure that he will realise that I cannot give a blanket exemption for any false statements made, or any approach to the Home Office that is wrongly constructed, merely because an immigration adviser was involved. If t

Miss Widdecombe, Registration Of Immigration Practitioners , 21 February 1996 (Commons)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to establish a system of registration for approved immigration advice practitioners; and for connected purposes. I am grateful for the opportunity to introduce the Bill to the House. My Bill seeks to

Mr. Nirj Joseph Deva (Brentford and Isleworth), Registration Of Immigration Advice Practitioners , 24 January 1996 (Commons)

What was said, on “Immigration Services Commissioner”

24 of 77 contributions, newest first. A sample, not the record.

My Lords, this is a busy group of, essentially, probing amendments around the subject of immigration advisers and immigration service providers. I shall do my best to be as brief as possible. There are a lot of probing amendments in this group. I hope th

Lord Cameron of Lochiel, Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill , 3 September 2025 (Lords)

My Lords, it is a pleasure to open the debate on this important Bill and to welcome the interest shown by so many noble Lords in seeking to speak. This is a key Bill for the Government and for the United Kingdom as a whole. I will set out why this Govern

Lord Hanson of Flint, Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill , 2 June 2025 (Lords)

I thank the hon. Member for his point of order. He has put his point on the record. I remind hon. Members that points of order should be brief. Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill (Ways and Means) Resolved, That, for the purposes of any

Judith Cummins, Points of Order , 12 May 2025 (Commons)

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time. This Bill restores order to an asylum system that was left in chaos by the Conservatives. It puts an end to the failed gimmicks and unworkable mess that they bequeathed us. It repeals in full th

Dame Angela Eagle, Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill , 12 May 2025 (Commons)

The clause introduces schedule 1, which will allow the governance arrangements for the Immigration Services Commissioner and deputy commissioner to be made more flexible. That will bring them in line with other public appointments by allowing for interim

Dame Angela Eagle, Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill (Eighth sitting) , 11 March 2025 (Commons)

As the Minister has outlined, clause 40 inserts schedule 1 into the Bill. That provides that the Immigration Services Commissioner is not to hold office for a term exceeding five years. The current regime is based on there being a commissioner and deputy

Katie Lam, Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill (Eighth sitting) , 11 March 2025 (Commons)

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. Reputation is important in this area, and the approach taken on this particular point will hurt our country more than it helps us. For example, it will not help us to get a returns agreement with EU countries, whic

Dame Diana Johnson, Illegal Migration Bill , 26 April 2023 (Commons)

I am grateful for this opportunity to speak to Amendments 72 and 74, and I congratulate my noble friend on the honour of being appointed a privy counsellor. It is richly deserved, and we can all bathe, I hope, in reflected glory. I look forward very much

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering, Nationality and Borders Bill , 8 March 2022 (Lords)

I thank the hon. Lady for making that incredibly important point. When somebody is prosecuted by the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner, it is a serious issue of unscrupulous, unqualified, unethical individuals giving legal advice, and that

Alex Chalk, Domestic Abuse Bill (Eleventh sitting) , 17 June 2020 (Commons)

Q I want to start by welcoming the comments that Ilona made about wanting to work with Government in relation to the White Paper. I also want to talk a little bit about the EU settled status scheme and how it impacts children, and the focus that we have

Caroline Nokes, Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill (Third sitting) , 14 February 2019 (Commons)

I beg to move, That this House has considered legal aid and the post-implementation review. It is a pleasure to introduce this important debate under your chairmanship, Sir Christopher. We cannot have meaningful rights without the means of enfor

Ms Karen Buck, Legal Aid: Post-Implementation Review , 4 September 2018 (Commons)

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister, particularly for her closing remark because many noble Lords would welcome such a meeting. Although there has been mention of liaison between the Department for Education and the Home Office, it does not appear so

Lord Ramsbotham, Children and Social Work Bill [HL] , 29 June 2016 (Lords)

My Lords, I must begin by declaring a very firm interest in this matter as chairman of the Advertising Standards Authority. At the outset, let us remind ourselves of the overall picture. The ASA has been regulating ads in the UK for the last 53 years,

Lord Smith of Finsbury, Advertising Standards Authority , 29 October 2015 (Lords)

My Lords, I wonder whether the Government have made any assessment of the number of people who would fall within the cohort identified by the noble Baroness. I have been looking through the review of the NRM to see whether I can work that out. I have not

Baroness Hamwee, Modern Slavery Bill , 23 February 2015 (Lords)

My Lords, this is a short amendment, which asks a short question. Schedule 7 deals with immigration advisers and immigration service providers and includes paragraphs about fees for registration. Paragraph 3(2)(b) will write into the legislation provision

Baroness Hamwee, Immigration Bill , 17 March 2014 (Lords)

My Lords, I hope that on this occasion I can delight my noble friend Lady Hamwee on this amendment. Amendment 73A seeks to define the organisations which will benefit from an exemption from paying a registration fee to the Immigration Services Commissi

Earl Attlee, Immigration Bill , 17 March 2014 (Lords)

My Lords, I declare a number of immigration interests. As Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons I was responsible for inspecting all places of immigration detention, during the course of which I found much wrong with the system, such as the use of inap

Lord Ramsbotham, Immigration Bill , 10 February 2014 (Lords)

My Lords, immigration features high on the agenda of all political parties. It has become one of the biggest public policy debates in recent times. It will also be one of the major issues that will dominate the general election in 2015. Immigration and as

Lord Dholakia, Immigration Bill , 10 February 2014 (Lords)

My Lords, I am grateful for the support of the noble Lord, Lord McAvoy, for the order. He said that he is new to the Northern Ireland brief. In 1998 I was the Opposition Spokesman for Northern Ireland, and I have to say that I enjoyed it, particularly wh

Earl Attlee, Northern Ireland Act 1998 (Devolution of Policing and Justice Functions) Order 2012 , 18 July 2012 (Lords)

The issue we are debating is very important, and I thank the Home Affairs Committee for its continuing work on it. I encourage it to continue monitoring the work of the UK Border Agency. I am also grateful to the Minister for his active engagement with th

Simon Hughes, UK Border Agency , 4 July 2012 (Commons)

It is very straightforward. As I have just said, 96 per cent of current spend on cases is included, and in terms of numbers of cases 13 per cent are outside. So 4 per cent of spend is outside, which represents 13 per cent of the number of cases. The no

Baroness Northover, Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill , 23 April 2012 (Lords)

My Lords, will the Minister acknowledge that part of the reason for introducing the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner was the poor quality of the advice that people were getting at these tribunals from people who simply did not know what the

Lord Newton of Braintree, Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill , 12 March 2012 (Lords)

I, too, agree that coming to or staying in the United Kingdom is of vital interest to those concerned, but practical, general advice and guidance can be available to help them. As we have already indicated, the Chancellor of the Exchequer will include det

Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill , 12 March 2012 (Lords)

My Lords, perhaps I may intervene briefly and almost reluctantly, because, having been rather rebellious last week on the Bill, I have been struggling to find good reasons for not being rebellious this week. I have to say that it is very uphill work. Cert

Lord Newton of Braintree, Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill , 12 March 2012 (Lords)

How this was checked

For each phrase, 3 documents spread across the result set were re-downloaded from legislation.gov.uk and searched for the phrase in their published text. Every one of them contained it.

Legislation from legislation.gov.uk's full-text search; Parliament from the Hansard search API. Both are searched by quoted phrase, and both indexes are stemmed, so one phrase covers its plural. The legislation index is the English-language text: legislation.gov.uk holds Welsh versions of Welsh legislation separately, and a nil return here is a nil return in English. Document counts are a deduplicated union across a profession's phrases. Hansard contribution counts are summed across phrases and are therefore an upper bound, because one speech can match two phrases; the quotations kept are a sample of the total, never the whole of it. Nothing is filtered for relevance -- each phrase carries a caveat naming what it wrongly catches. The oldest hits are the least trustworthy: they are the likeliest to be the word in an older sense, and the legislation index reads legislation.gov.uk's editorial annotations as well as the enacted text, so a document can be returned because a note recording a later amendment mentions the phrase.

Collected 29 September 2026 from legislation.gov.uk and the Hansard search API, both Open Government Licence v3.0.